Cocktails, cuisine and Cayman creativity took centre stage at ‘Stories by the Sea’, a Cayman Art Week pop-up that transformed art into a full-sensory experience.

The 24 May event, at The Studio gallery and Library by the Sea at the Kimpton Seafire Resort, featured the creations of the Chroma Collective artists and designers Janine Every, Josie Frazer, Larissa Clarke, Isy B., Mica Koll and Alex Akdeniz.

Guests were treated to a selection of works that explored identity, storytelling, culture and nature, paired with cocktails and canapés inspired by the art on display.

The exhibition extended beyond the library into the resort’s lobby, where guests enjoyed an island-inspired showcase from the artists. Highlights included Every’s vivid interpretations of Cayman’s natural beauty; Frazer’s tribute to local flora and fauna through a pink-hued lens; Clarke’s evocative blends of marine life and the human experience; Akdeniz’s meditative pieces on butterfly migrations; Koll’s Mariner Surf Co. apparel and accessories; and Isy B.’s immersive installation of fashion and storytelling.

Isy B., whose fashion and lifestyle brand draws on her Caymanian, Nigerian and British heritage and stories, moderated the evening’s artist panel. “Everything I do is based on a story,” she said when asked by Every about what inspires her as an artist. “Cayman has a storytelling heritage. It is in the foods, the stories and in Cayman Kind.”

Imaginations came to life at the Library by the Sea – Kimpton’s award-winning cocktail bar and library hybrid – as head bartender Max Wolff and his team crafted bespoke cocktails, translating brushstrokes and colour palettes into botanical flavours.

“Tonight your senses are going to be awakened,” Wolff told the audience. “We are a functioning library and cocktail bar, and we love to make cocktails around stories.”

Frazer’s piece, ‘The Chicken’, described by The Studio’s co-owner as a playful pink tribute to Cayman’s unofficial mascot, inspired the creation of’National Treasure, a bold, fruity cocktail blending mezcal, hibiscus, kalamansi and the fiery kick of scotch bonnet.

Among the drinkable artwork was Island Aviary, inspired by Akdeniz’s vivid butterfly-laced painting, ‘The Great Migration’. Made with gin, dry vermouth, Barbados cherry and purple bougainvillea, the ‘floral-forward’ drink mirrored the piece’s celebration of natural beauty.

The Tempest, a rum-based cocktail, drew inspiration from a painting in Every’s Daybreak collection, an abstract series of gold-tinged seascapes. Topped with an edible white-and-blue chocolate boat, the drink echoed both the veseel suspended in the library and the blue ones depicted in Frazer’s series.

Guests also sampled Verdance, a blend of tequila, fig leaf cordial, matcha and coconut, drawing from Every’s oil painting, rich with tropical foliage that Wolff described as “screaming greenery with coconuts underpinning the whole thing”. The Studio’s co-owner said that painting the piece “took countless hours” and pushed her beyond her comfort zone.

To complement the cocktails, the culinary team presented a series of art-inspired bites, including beetroot mille-feuille topped with sour cream and caviar, black pasta with shrimp and roasted pepper gel, a carrot cylinder filled with zucchini flower and tofu cream, and a mango-coconut pavlova.

The imaginative menu reflected the spirit of the occasion – Cayman Art Week, now in its fifth year. Since its inception, the event has evolved into a vibrant week-long celebration that spans all three islands, featuring over 100 artists across 40 venues.

“Art Week is about learning and collecting,” said Natalie Urquhart, director and chief curator of the National Gallery and founder of Cayman Art Week, “but there is a joy that permeates throughout at experiencing the sheer breadth of Cayman’s creativity.”